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Penfield and the Founding of the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 July 2022

Richard Leblanc*
Affiliation:
Montreal Neurological Institute, Montreal, PQ, Canada Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
*
Corresponding author: Richard Leblanc MD, Montreal Neurological Institute, 3801 University Street, Montreal, PQ H3A 2B4, Canada. Email: richard.leblanc@mcgill.ca
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Abstract:

As conceived by Wilder Penfield the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) integrated neurology, neurosurgery, and allied disciplines within a single institution, where research and teaching complemented patient care. The MNI’s success influenced the creation of the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness (NINDB), as Pearce Bailey, its first Director, sought to replicate the MNI’s clinical and research model. He turned to MNI trainees Maitland Baldwin and Milton Shy to head the NINDB’s Surgical and Medical Neurology Branches, respectively. They in turn recruited other MNI trainees who continued their work at the NINDB bringing clinical neuroscience to the USA.

Résumé :

RÉSUMÉ :

Wilder Penfield et la création du National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness.

Tel qu’il a été conçu par Wilder Penfield, l’Institut neurologique de Montréal (INM) a intégré la neurologie, la neurochirurgie et des disciplines connexes au sein d’une seule institution où la recherche et l’enseignement complétaient les soins prodigués aux patients. Le succès de l’INM a ainsi influencé la création du National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness (NINDB). Son premier directeur, Pearce Bailey, a cherché à reproduire le modèle clinique et de recherche de l’INM. À cet égard, il s’est tourné vers Maitland Baldwin et Milton Shy, stagiaires de l’INM, pour diriger respectivement les domaines de la neurologie chirurgicale et de la neurologie médicale au sein du NINDB. Ces deux individus ont à leur tour recruté d’autres stagiaires formés à l’INM qui ont poursuivi leur travail au NINDB en introduisant les neurosciences cliniques aux États-Unis.

Information

Type
Historical Review
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation
Figure 0

Figure 1: Baldwin and Penfield in Penfield’’s office, Christmas, 1949. Montreal Neurological Institute archives. All rights reserved.

Figure 1

Figure 2: Milton Shy, 1949. Montreal Neurological Institute archives. All rights reserved.

Figure 2

Figure 3: MNI staff, residents, and fellows 1949–1950. Second row: Penfield (8). Fourth row: Baldwin (2), Ajmone-Marsan (3), Dekaban (7). Fifth row: Van Buren (2), Li (6), Shy (7). Top row: Klatzo (5). Montreal Neurological Institute archives. All rights reserved.

Figure 3

Table 1: MNI trainees and the NINDB

Figure 4

Figure 4: Wilder Penfield and Maitland Baldwin on 4 October 1960 during Penfield’s visit at the NINDB, when he gave a lecture entitled Conscious Experience–What the Brain Records and Where. National Institutes of Health Archives. Public domain.

Figure 5

Figure 5: Staff of the NINDB’s Department of electroencephalography. Cosimo Ajmone-Marsan is standing, fourth from the left. Maureen Benson-DeLemos, the EEG department’s chief technician who was trained at the MNI is at center in the front row. National Institutes of Health Archives. Public domain.

Figure 6

Figure 6: Choh-Luh li (left) and Chester Cullen (right) in the neurophysiology laboratory at the MNI, 1954. Li is performing single cell recordings from the cortex of a cat, with Cullen’s assistance. Cullen later became an authority on multiple sclerosis, a condition from which he suffered. Richard Leblanc MD. All rights reserved.

Figure 7

Figure 7: Milton Shy (standing) and Godwin Greenfield at the NINDB, during their studies on the "floppy infant" syndrome.48 Image courtesy of the British Neuropathological Society archives. Reproduced with permission of the British Neuropathological Society.